


Until dawn breaks

by Katseester



Series: hostages of geography [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Established Relationship, Fluff and Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 09:20:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17019990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katseester/pseuds/Katseester
Summary: Estinien leaves, but he always comes back.---"I can do a couple of months," Alphinaud murmured, threading his fingers through the hair at Estinien's nape. "Though I would prefer not to."





	Until dawn breaks

**Author's Note:**

> Can't get better at writing smut if I don't practice ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Alphinaud was very nearly late.  
  
He didn't make a habit of this. In fact, he couldn't recall a time he had been late for _anything_ in his life; even as a member of the Studium he had made a point to arrive to classes 15 minutes before the bell sounded, lest his professors think him tardy as the other students.  
  
Unfortunately, the warm climes of Gyr Abania's early afternoons were always dragging at Alphinaud's eyelids, especially after spending nearly a year in that damnable cold of Coerthas and Dravania. Usually a cup of tea or coffee was enough to keep him awake through the day but today...  
  
He'd fallen asleep at his desk, head resting on his arms, and when he awoke his timepiece told him he had only ten minutes to make his way across the Ala Mhigan Quarter to the palace, a feat which was not - _impossible_ , but most likely very, very difficult if he did not hurry.  
  
He made it up the stairs and through the doors with three minutes to spare, and thankfully the meeting hall wasn't too far from the entrance, otherwise he would _surely_ be late -  
  
Estinien silently fell in step beside him, nearly scaring him out of his breeches. (Nevermind how he got clearance into the palace, or if he'd simply made a window his entrance again.)  
  
"Estinien, hello," he said, surprise colouring his voice; he'd kissed Alphinaud awake just that morning before taking his leave with promises of that night. Alphinaud hadn't expected to see him until then.

"Alphinaud, a word."  
  
"Yes, of course," Alphinaud said, distracted, not slowing his pace. Estinien kept up with him easily, anyhow. "It's just that I have a meeting I need to get to soon otherwise Lyse might see fit to kick me into Garlemald - "  
  
"I'm leaving tomorrow."  
  
That made Alphinaud stop. "Oh," he said lightly. "Not for long, I hope?"  
  
Estinien's hand on his arm was gentle. He was always so gentle, whenever he spoke of leaving. "Not for long. A fortnight, if all goes well."  
  
"And if all doesn't go well?"  
  
Estinien slid his hand from Alphinaud's arm to his shoulder, and then to his neck; traced the line of Alphinaud's throat with his fingers before cupping his cheek. Far be it from Alphinaud not to lean into the touch. He closed his eyes and sighed.  
  
"Longer. A couple of months, at most," Estinien said quietly, stepping in closer so that they were within ilms of each other.  
  
A couple of months apart was not unusual for them; sometimes Alphinaud would go weeks without hearing a word from his lover only to receive a letter with a scant few words penned out. He didn't fault the man for it; sometimes that was all Estinien had time for.  
  
Still, the time apart made Alphinaud ache for him; for the way he smiled, crooked and unguarded; for his warmth at night beneath the covers in Alphinaud's rooms; for his quick, dry wit and gentle, fond words.  
  
"I can do a couple of months," Alphinaud murmured, threading his fingers through the hair at Estinien's nape. "Though I would prefer not to."  
  
"Then I'll try to be quick about it," Estinien murmured back, and captured Alphinaud's lips with his own.  
  
It was perhaps not the smartest thing, kissing Estinien in broad daylight in the hallway of Ala Mhigo's royal palace. Alphinaud didn't care, and they were alone, besides. He pulled the other man closer, breathing in his scent and shivering as Estinien's hands tickled over his ribs to hold him at the waist, wishing he would stay but knowing he wouldn't. Couldn't.  
  
Sometimes Estinien told him of his journeys afterwards, when he returned and they were lying in bed, sore and sated and full of each other. But never before. He would tell Alphinaud that he was leaving, and he would leave, and that was that until he came back. Alphinaud never expected any different in the past, and didn't expect any different now.  
  
Estinien pulled back, eyes dark, and murmured, "I'll not keep you," before stepping back and leaving Alphinaud quite breathless and undone and aching for more.  
  
"I'll see you tonight?" It wasn't really a question, but Estinien nodded anyway, and then took off down the hallway with swift strides, not sparing a glance over his shoulder before he disappeared around a corner.  
  
Alphinaud took a moment to compose himself; he flattened his mussed hair and straightened his clothing, and once he was sure he looked like he hadn't just been ravished against the wall by his lover, made to continue on his way to the meeting he was surely late to at this point.  
  
He turned the corner and nearly bowled his sister over.  
  
"Alisaie!" he squeaked, as she caught him by the arm before he could lose his balance. A guilty flush crept up his neck. "How long have you been here?"  
  
"Only for a moment," she said, but before Alphinaud could breathe a sigh of relief continued with, "but it was long enough to finally confirm some suspicions I've been having about you."  
  
"A-and what would those be?" Alphinaud asked, feigning ignorance rather poorly. Alisaie shot him a withering look.  
  
"Don't play dumb," she drawled smugly, pulling him by the arm down the hall. "Half of Ala Mhigo already knows about it; you two aren't especially _subtle_. Or quiet. Now come, we're late as it is and I'm sure the others will be wondering where we are."  
  
Alphinaud spluttered. "We're - I'm not - are we really that - "  
  
"Mother and father will absolutely not approve," she continued gleefully over his protestations.  
  
Alphinaud came to a halt, digging his heels in and pulling his arm from her grasp. "I'm not looking for their approval," he said, tilting his chin defiantly.  
  
Alisaie leveled him with a piercing look down the length of her nose (Alphinaud cursed the day she grew taller than him) before her lips twitched upwards in a grin.  
  
"I should hope not," she said. "The dear brother I know wouldn't allow his parents' disapproval dissuade him from _following his heart_ or some other such romantics."  
  
Alphinaud's face burned. He looked away. "Yes, well. You're very much correct on that account; I'll have you know I'm quite serious about him and I think - I think he feels the same way."  
  
Alisaie snorted. " _That's_ obvious to anyone who looks at him. I don't think I've ever seen a man so smitten. Did you know he asked me if you preferred long or short hair? In confidence, of course."  
  
Alphinaud did not.  
  
He really hoped his sister gave Estinien the correct answer; he couldn't imagine the man showing up with a crew cut out of the blue.  
  
"Right, well." Alphinaud cleared his throat for something to do other than wallow in embarrassment. "We should get to that meeting before they send out a search party, don't you think?"  
  
"I _am_ the search party," Alisaie said. "Now let's _go_ before they start another war without us there to circumvent it."

* * *

Estinien entered through the window at exactly half a bell past ten. His hair was, thankfully, the same length it had been earlier in the day.  
  
He wasted no time in pulling Alphinaud close to him; his lips were hot against Alphinaud's, his hands strong on his nape and back and arse. They tumbled into the bed tangled together, enjoying the delicious friction of their groins against each other through their layers of clothing. Alphinaud gasped into Estinien's mouth as the other man's hand slipped under his nightshirt; his fingers ran over his entrance, pressing and teasing until Alphinaud growled in frustration and fumbled at the nightstand for some lubrication.  
  
"Let me," Estinien said, as he did every time he wanted to prepare Alphinaud, and took the bottle from him, applying the liquid amply to his fingers before reaching around to his arse again.  
  
The first press of Estinien's index finger into him was always slow and calculated, sliding in until Alphinaud could feel the webbing of his fingers against his rim. He liked it when Alphinaud began to fuck himself on his fingers, but just one wasn't enough. Estinien began a steady rhythm with just the one finger, kissing Alphinaud slowly, tongue slick against the younger man's.  
  
The second finger stretched him a bit more, but it still wasn't enough. Alphinaud whined against Estinien's mouth, thrust himself down further onto his lover's fingers, and felt the rumble of Estinien's chuckle deep in his chest.  
  
"You like that?" Estinien asked, voice low and rough and wonderful, and Alphinaud nodded, couldn't help the small noises that were building in his throat as Estinien worked his fingers deeper.  
  
The third finger gave him a fantastic feeling of fullness; he groaned into Estinien's shoulder and began to move in earnest, sliding himself as far onto them as he could before easing off, gasping at the way they curled within him, uttering profanity when they brushed against his prostate.  
  
Estinien's own arousal was pressing into his thigh, and Alphinaud worked his hand down the front of his lover's trousers while fucking his fingers, giving him the friction he so clearly desired and enjoying the low hum of pleasure he received as a result.  
  
"Gods, Alphinaud," Estinien growled, and apparently deciding he'd had enough foreplay, pulled his fingers out of the younger man to grab the lube and undo his trousers, erection full and dark by the candle's light. Without being asked to, Alphinaud rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his knees, and then the press of Estinien's cock was against his hole, pressing in and in until he could feel the other man's skin flush against his arse.  
  
There was a moment where they just breathed together, Estinien leaning over him, waiting as Alphinaud got used to the fullness within him, and then he began to move. Slowly at first, and then picking up a faster rhythm as Alphinaud gasped for more beneath him, fingers twisting the bedsheets into knots.  
  
He took Alphinaud's arousal in hand and fucked Alphinaud at both ends until he came, teeth scraping over the skin of the younger man's shoulder and fingers tangled with his own, and it wasn't long before Estinien himself was pushed over the edge, murmuring something dangerous into the shell of Alphinaud's ear.  
  
They lay in quiet for a while after that, languorous and sated, occasionally meeting in a lazy kiss, until they settled side-by-side, Estinien's arm encircling Alphinaud and drawing light patterns along his back.  
  
"Were you late to your meeting?" Estinien eventually asked.  
  
"Very much so, although it was because my sister felt the need to interrogate me on the way there," Alphinaud answered.  
  
Estinien rumbled out a chuckle. "The girl needs to work more on her stealth. I recall that got her into a spot of trouble a while back, from your recounting."  
  
Alphinaud pulled back to fix him with an accusing glare. "You knew she was there and you still kissed me where she could see?"  
  
"I see no reason to hide what I feel for you," Estinien said evenly. "I don't think I should be ashamed of what we have. Do you?"  
  
"No," Alphinaud immediately replied, trying to squash down the warm feeling that was unfurling in his chest. "It's just - I only wish you'd talked about it with me before deciding on your own."  
  
Estinien hummed, considering, before gently pulling him back into his arms. "I apologize. I find it difficult to...restrain myself around you sometimes."  
  
"It's quite alright," Alphinaud said, allowing himself to run a finger over the curve of Estinien's ear. The other man shivered at the sensation. "I'm rather tired of all this secrecy myself. But - are you sure? People are going to look at you funny, being involved with a Leveilleur - "  
  
Estinien shushed him with a kiss. "I'll live. Besides, you should be more concerned about yourself. Taken advantage of by a man more than ten years his senior, and all..."  
  
"Don't you start with that," Alphinaud warned, though his lips were tugging upwards into a smile. He settled himself against Estinien's shoulder once more. "Though you should have really just asked me what length I prefer your hair. I like it how it is, by the way."  
  
It was Estinien's turn to be indignant, and Alphinaud allowed him a nip to the ear before turning in his arms to settle down for sleep.

* * *

When he woke, Estinien was gone; the bed beside him was terribly cold and empty, and he sat and stretched with not a small amount of soreness in his hips from the previous night.  
  
A flash of scarlet caught his eye as he made his way to his wardrobe after cleaning himself up in the washroom. Laid carefully in coils upon his writing desk was a strip of fabric, a deep red in colour. Beside it was a note, written in Estinien's messy scrawl on a page torn from Alphinaud's journal.  
  
_If you wish, let everyone know that you're mine._  
  
_E_  
  
Alphinaud considered the words, and the cloth, and then carefully (and with some difficulty; he perhaps needed to use his teeth at some point) tied it snugly around his wrist.  
  
And if his sister gave him a knowing look and cocky grin when he saw her later that day, well. It wasn't without reason.

**Author's Note:**

> I have some more ideas about these two in this particular 'verse that I'd like to write out. Will I? mmmmmprobably, but who knows how long that will take me lol


End file.
